


The Fairest of Them All

by Siha_Shepard



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Poetry, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Elisif Deserved Better Than A War Horn, F/M, Free Verse, High King Torygg Deserved Better, Other, Out of Character, Poetry, Possible Character Death, Post-Canon Fix-It, Skyrim Civil War, Suicidal Thoughts, Ulfric Stormcloak Bashing, Wish Fulfillment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-02 21:42:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16313183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siha_Shepard/pseuds/Siha_Shepard
Summary: Elisif and the Bear.





	1. The Wolf and the Bear

**Author's Note:**

> Admit it, Elisif needs her time to shine AND avenge her husband. And what better way to do it?

In the conquered land of the frozen North,

where snow is split by spilt blood,

Markarth's bear, with Voice unrelenting,

sits in chains in the den of a wolf, 

all because of a cat,

her force disrupting the balance. 

 

Meanwhile, I sat in Solitude, the  _ other _ throne and half of the bed I once shared empty and cold for years. 

My heart swelled and ached, 

the pain of my people shedding kinsmen's blood making me weep with them. 

Oh, how I longed to march into Windhelm alongside her, 

slaying the man that took my better half into the hall of Sovngarde.

 

But, fate has smiled on me, it seems.

Almost like a child giving her mother a gift, 

the cat with a Voice of thunder,

grinning cheekily,

had knelt before my throne, 

bound and gagged,

was him. 

 

The King-Killer. 

 

The Widow-Maker. 

 

The False King. 

 

Ulfric Stormcloak. 

 

How I wished to scream,

to shout,

to berate,

to spit,

to curse,

to cry,

but all I could manage to ask,

as his eyes were forced to meet mine, was…

 

“...Why?”

 

Through the gag, he tried to answer, but the only words I could understand 

would haunt me as my husband's spirit in my dreams. 

 

“It was….for my people. For Skyrim!” 

 

I had heard enough. 

The order was made: 

the Bear was to die as a beast does,

alone, in the wilds, 

where none could find him,

and none could mourn him. 

And those that dared…

 

They would join him. 

 

And I, the One who sits in Solitude,

will bear witness to it all…

as I swing the blade that will silence his Voice.

 


	2. The Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elisif takes action.

The Bear sat silenced, enchained for days,

much to the delight of my faithful mage,

who raised my lost love like her son

and grieved with me as he left us behind.

 

Once the verdict was announced,

and the Widow-Maker's fate was sealed,

my sleep was restless,

almost haunted,

as I tossed about in the half-empty bed.

The cat lent her ear to hear my cries with the Ravencrone perched on her shoulder,

her crowing taking the form of a vision,

or a prophecy.

 

“You sleep not because your heart is as hard and as heavy as stone,

my young friend.

On the other side of your bed,

your love waits among the Blessed,

pleading for your sunny smile to warm the icy cold again.

Vengeance will change you

and will not raise the dead, child.

Be wary on this path you tread.

Though you may hold the blade

and force him to kneel,

the Bear might bite back.”

 

Is it truly wrong to

avenge the one you love,

who was taken away in front of you by

the very man he idolized and would follow to the very ends of the world?

Oh, love, you leave me too soon

and leave me between the claws of a

cunning Wolf and a blasphemous Bear,

armed with little but a few paltry requests

and a Crown that soon grows heavy on my brow.

 

But, soon, my love, I will sleep peacefully

as I send the beast who ripped apart

our home,

our land,

our bed,

our crown,

our peace

to you to have your turn at vengeance

on the man who took you from me…

And soon after that, I will join you.


	3. The Fairest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At long last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Veeeeeeeery long poem.

For days and weeks, the Bear sat bound in Solitude,  
the gag silencing his once mighty Voice,  
enduring the constant poking  
and prodding  
and mocking  
and berating  
from the mage and the cat,  
the rest of my home thinking and mourning  
their “true” sovereign slain by the Wolf.

 

How wrong they are to think that  
a man so eager to bloody his blade to  
take the throne and  
take the crown of a man who would have happily given both…  
If he had simply spoken, instead of Shouted.

 

So now the King-Killer sits in silence,  
awaiting the day of martyrdom,  
to see the roaring crowds of blue cuirasses  
and blue banners singing the praises of their god amongst them…  
But, whether they will sing of him or Talos will never be known.

 

As the fateful day grew closer, I tossed and turned  
in the half-empty bed that was once filled with the love of my life,  
who waits in Sovngarde for company from his idol…  
and, soon after him, his wife.

 

The raven, mage, and cat  
sat alongside me all throughout this blasted waiting,  
crowing, meowing, hissing, whispering  
words of comfort, words of sages, words of wisdom, and Words of Power  
as soon as they spotted a furrowed brow or a tear stream down my cheek,  
their stalwart loyalty warming the cold and lonely depths of my heart.

 

The day of retribution came,  
the Widow-Maker spewing gagged blasphemies all the while  
as my ravencrone, my mage, the dragon-cat, and I  
spirited him out of Solitude and into the wilds under the dark blanket of night,  
my need for vengeance warming me against the cold winds that assailed us, until…  
We stopped at last.

  
There we were, the five of us,  
the dragon-cat,  
the court mage,  
the Ravencrone,  
the King-Killer,  
and I,  
in the center of blistering snow,  
with no creeping beasts, no  company but ourselves,  
the Divines who watch from on high,  
and the Daedra below who wait to take him.

 

Ulfric knelt in the snow, his snarling and gnarled lips bound by the gag,  
his bloodied hands bound behind his back,  
glaring at the half-circle in front of him.  
Even despite the howling wind, I could hear him groan out curses   
against the Dragonborn,  
against Stentor,  
against Ravencrone,  
against Torygg,  
against me,  
but we paid them no heed as he tried in vain to  
drown out the charges I have read against him with shouts of power and "For Skyrim!"

 

"Ulfric Stormcloak, you have been imprisoned and found guilty for   
the crime of murder,  
the crime of usurping,  
the crime of blaspheming the Divines,   
and the crime of leading hundreds to die for the sake of a coveted crown.

You could have talked to the man who would have followed you to Sovngarde and back again,  
stood arm in arm together,  
with all of Skyrim united at your backs,  
strong and powerful,  
but instead you tore a court,  
a heart,  
and a kingdom asunder  
for the sake of a throne and a crown that weighs like stone upon the brow. 

What say you now, knelt before me as my husband did before you,  
before you may go to meet him yourself?"

 

His eyes, cold as the snow he knelt in, and as empty as my own heart,   
spoke what his own bound mouth could not;  
'I do this for my people, for those who come home to strangers...and weak kings.'   
Those eyes alone sealed his fate.   
With one breath and one heavy strike of the blade I held,  
Ulfric was no more, mixing white with red as crimson as the Imperial flag he once served.

Then, whether through Divines' pity or Daedras' cruelty,  
I saw him there,  
in front of me,  
sharing the same smile he held when Mara blessed our bed.

 

 _"_ _My fairest Elisif,"_ the shade pled,  _"Do not weep."_  
_"Do not shed tears, my fairest Queen._  
_The one who sent me to the Hallowed Halls,_  
_the man who tore our lives,_  
_our home,_  
_our hearts asunder_  
_knelt before me..._  
_And I forgave him._  
_Avenge me no longer, but give me one wish:_

 _"Give me the sweet beauty of your smile,_  
the radiance that rivals the brightest star in Sovngarde  
before I depart,  
at last at peace."

 

Through tears never-ending,   
I struggled to grant him his one desire,  
even with the aid of the raven and the cat at my side,  
their hands steadying me as I wept tears of joy,  
pleading for him to stay a while,  
a day,  
a week,  
a month,  
a year,  
a lifetime more...  
Even though I knew his shade would soon depart.

 

So, with one joyful thought, one joyful memory,  
I smiled as if my love were there,   
waiting to greet me with a kiss as always,  
my heart pounding out the beat of a funeral dirge.   
Through my tears, I cried out,  
"My dearest Torygg, please, stay a moment longer!   
My heart, my throne, my court, my very life is empty without you!  
This crown weighs heavily on my brow along with the whispers of doubt in my court!  
I feel as a ship tossed about in a storm before it collides with the shore.  
Please...tell me...what must I do to bear the crown in solitude?"

 

His shade fading, his smile still constant,  
my other half bade me before returning to Shor's hallowed halls:  
 _"My queen, my fairest Elisif, I only tell you this:  
_ _Take up the blade as you do now.  
_ _Bear the crown as I would bear it beside you  
_ _Be the queen I always knew you to be.  
_ _Remember this and my unfaltering love for thee."_

 

With naught but my companions and my resolve warming me   
against the bitter cold,  
I knelt as a Widow...  
But rose to my feet a Queen,  
the Fairest of all,  
solely ruling in Solitude.

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive Criticism is ALWAYS welcome!


End file.
